Kurt Daudt sets a “dog-whistle racist” tone for 2020

“Dog-whistle racism” is a weird phrase, when you think about it. I mean, the whole point of a dog whistle is that humans aren’t affected by it, right? But we all in fact know what political dog-whistle racism really entails, and that’s what matters. For example:

“People want to be able to visit a Twins game or a Vikings game,” Republican House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt told Minnesota Public Radio, “and they want to feel safe while they’re there, not worrying about being attacked or mugged in broad daylight right in front of the Twins stadium. These are things that scare people.”(Minnesota Reformer)

(The article, which you should read, goes on to note that violent crime has in fact declined, in Minneapolis as elsewhere, by a lot, since 1990. I’m adding that it’s no coincidence that 1990 was 17 years after women were finally allowed their fundamental right to safe, legal terminations of unplanned pregnancies, in this country. But I digress.)

I suppose that, from the Minnesota Party of Trump’s point of view, why not go with crap like that? I know we all had a good chuckle when we first heard the 2016 GOP presidential candidates collectively termed “the strongest Republican field in a generation” by pompous idiot corporate media pundits. But they actually were, only because the right-wing bench for every elected office, everywhere, is so weak, intellectually and ethically, by any reasonable standard, and has been for decades. Anyone with any sense at all, who runs for anything as a GOPer, these days, gets weeded out in no time. The point being that Trump was able to roll right over “the strongest…” by being pretty openly racist (and misogynistic, and just generally bigoted) in ways that other Republican candidates for high office had mistakenly believed wouldn’t work. At least not nationally.

And don’t forget that Minneapolis is represented in D.C. by big bad terrifying Rep. Ilhan Omar!

So we’re going to see and hear a lot of this.

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